By Otsile Kadiege

The all-new Subaru Outback has landed in South Africa and Subaru says it is the most advanced, most capable and safest car in the brand’s history.

Design and technology

The new Subaru Outback will be offered in two trim levels namely, Field and Touring. The Field adopts a more rugged design whereas the Touring has more urban trim accents. A new feature called Hands Free Tailgate function, a new technology for the brand, will conveniently open the boot by simply waving your hand or arm directly in front of the rear Subaru badge on the centre of the tailgate.

“The all-new Outback is the representation of everything for which Subaru strives to achieve – unmatched safety, capability, practicality and especially in this case, a premium driving experience on any terrain,” says Nteo Nkoli, Marketing Lead at Subaru SA.

Looks

The new Outback is 50mm longer and 30mm wider than its predecessor. Exterior highlights include body cladding around the entire body, black silica-plated grille, bumper and chrome fog light surrounds that are panelled in black cladding trim, slimmer LED headlight units, C-shaped lights for both the Daytime Running Lights and turn signals.

New Nine body colours are available for the new Outback: Crystal White Pearl; Ice Silver Metallic; Magnetite Grey Metallic; Crystal Black Silica; Crimson Red Pearl; Dark Blue Pearl; Storm Grey Metallic; Brilliant Bronze Metallic(all-new); Autumn Green Metallic(all new).

Two derivatives

As stated above, the new Subaru Outback will be offered in two trim levels namely, Field and Touring. The Field derivative is differentiated by its lean towards adventure where the Touring model adopts a more urban approach in design. Field models are treated to the use of more black and green trim treatment. The Field model is fitted with 18-inch black metallic alloy wheels, black silica painted underguard, black roof rails with green accents, black door mirror caps, black Outback lettering on the rear and green Outback lettering on the side guards.

The Touring model sports silver trim in these areas as well as 18-inch aluminium finished alloy wheels.

Interior

Inside, the Subaru Outback heralds the brand’s latest in-car design and cabin architecture. Both Outback grades will feature a new 11.6-inch portrait/vertical touchscreen with smartphone-familiar swipe, drag and touch features and an infotainment system featuring Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and 4 USB ports as standard.  For a premium audio experience, Subaru Outback is fitted with the latest generation Harman/Kardon sound system that features 12-speakers in the cabin including a sub-woofer in the cargo area for quality sound. 

The new Outback has the largest cabin to date. Overall, the length of the vehicle has increased by 50mm and the width by 35mm. The result is improvements in legroom, shoulder room and cargo floor room. Overall boot volume is 522-litres with the rear seats in place and 1,267-litres with the seats folded flat. A 12V power socket is also found in the rear cargo area too.

Technology and safety

Technology highlights of the Outback include DriverFocus Distraction Mitigation System. This system makes use of cameras and facial recognition to monitor the driver for signs of fatigue or distraction and then warns the driver where it detects a lack of focus and attention to the road.

In addition to all its other functions, the award-winning Eyesight driver assistance system has been enhanced. It now includes Autonomous Corrective Steering, improved lane keeping, vibration feedback through the steering wheel and an altogether wider field of view and therefore operation through the dual cameras.

Performance

The Outback is powered by a new and more powerful 2.5-litre direct injection Boxer Engine as well as wholly improved levels of refinement and dynamic ability. Power is 138kW at 5,800rpm and maximum torque is 245Nm at 3,400 – 4600rpm. The engine is mated to a lightweight Lineartronic CVT transmission. The 2.5-litre engine consists of 90% new inner components and almost 80% of the CVT transmission has been improved. It also now features an 8-speed manual mode as well that is operable via paddle shifts behind the steering wheel.

Subaru says the drivetrain improvements have lowered fuel consumption figures now at 7,3l/100km on the combined cycle, 9,2l/100km on the urban cycle and 6,2l/100km on the extra-urban cycle. Braked towing capacity sits at 1.5-tons.

Pricing, warranty and availability

The pricing for the new Subaru Outback is as follows:

• Subaru Outback 2.5i-Field ES R699,000; and
• Subaru Outback 2.5i-Touring ES R729,000.

Each Subaru Outback model is sold with a 3 year/75,000km Maintenance Plan as well as the 5year/150,000km Warranty.

Subaru South Africa said the new Outback will be available at all Southern African dealers from 1 May 2021.